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Revisiting Every Rush Album In Order: Power Windows (1985)


Segue Myles
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4. Marathon

 

One of my all time favourite Rush songs.

 

I love everything about it, it has the great melodies, great lyrics. The synths again dominate but the entire band play beautifully, leaving it sounding more like a dance of various players than a fight to have any one single instrument dominate. Alex has superb moments here.

 

Everything complements. Power Windows is an actual delight to listen too, I forgot how much this record pleased me!

 

Sandwiched between my beloved Grace Under Pressure and Hold Your Fire, it seems I made a mistake putting this masterpiece to one side.

 

Beautiful.

 

The song builds and builds to a really enriching and transcendent finish. Just PERFECT, lush production values and faultless songwriting.

 

I am loving this.

 

Also the chorus:

 

 

From first to last

The peak is never passed

Something always fires the light

That gets in your eyes

One moment's high

And glory rolls on by

Like a streak of lightning

That flashes and fades

In the summer sky

 

Beautiful!

 

10/10

The chorus is fantastic!! One of my favorite set of lyrics in music.
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Big Money 9.25

Grand Designs 10

Manhattan Project 9.25

Marathon 10

Territories 9.25

Middletown Dreams 10

Emotion Detector 9

Mystic Rhythms 9.75

 

76.5 total

9.5625 average

 

It's about my 6-7th favorite Rush album and that is mostly based on the big 3 for me of Grand Designs, Marathon and Middletown Dreams.

Edited by Mithrandir
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4. Marathon

 

One of my all time favourite Rush songs.

 

I love everything about it, it has the great melodies, great lyrics. The synths again dominate but the entire band play beautifully, leaving it sounding more like a dance of various players than a fight to have any one single instrument dominate. Alex has superb moments here.

 

Everything complements. Power Windows is an actual delight to listen too, I forgot how much this record pleased me!

 

Sandwiched between my beloved Grace Under Pressure and Hold Your Fire, it seems I made a mistake putting this masterpiece to one side.

 

Beautiful.

 

The song builds and builds to a really enriching and transcendent finish. Just PERFECT, lush production values and faultless songwriting.

 

I am loving this.

 

Also the chorus:

 

 

From first to last

The peak is never passed

Something always fires the light

That gets in your eyes

One moment's high

And glory rolls on by

Like a streak of lightning

That flashes and fades

In the summer sky

 

Beautiful!

 

10/10

 

Great song!

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So we come to the end of Power Windows. Am album that I think is by and large one of the more divisive Rush releases, I find for me the most frustrating thing about it is it has too many filler moments. The best songs could have made for a classic EP. And for all the praise I have given for the synth sounds, when reviewing songs individually it is easy to praise the positives. A sad weakness of Power Windows is that, when reviewed as a whole, it cannot be overlooked how much all the album blurs together.

 

I would say I enjoyed this album more than Signals, but I am not sure it deserves a rating much higher than the one I gave that.

 

6/10

 

Favourite song: Marathon

Least Favourite: The Big Money

 

Agree on fave song; disagree on least fave. For me that (dis)honor belongs to Emotion Detector.

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This one is where it all ended. The first release I didn't run out and buy immediately or ever...

Too bad for you! :) It's a great album.

Great is a relative term. When you were born in 60' and ATWAS is your first album(as a pimpled faced 16 year old) it's far from great. Grace Under Pressure was very good but this one not so much. I like about half of it...
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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.
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It's hard to take seriously any lyric that argues that the peak is never passed by a band whose peak had long passed, and is at full avalanche speed down the side of Everest.
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It's hard to take seriously any lyric that argues that the peak is never passed by a band whose peak had long passed, and is at full avalanche speed down the side of Everest.

They didn't reach avalanche speed for me until they released Test 4 Music...
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These threads are pure gold, Mr. Myles! Hats off!

Love reading through all your observations, even if I don't agree with all of them.

Keep 'em coming, cause I can't wait for the lovefest that HYF will bring. :cheers:

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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.

The single guitar coil pick ups really was the last straw for me... :)

 

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This was the album that switched me off to Rush. I persevered and was bought HYF as a gift, but didn't get passed Force Ten. When I did come back to Rush a few years ago, I had some catching up to do. But I still dislike this album and HYF as the major low points IMO. Big Money is a horrible opener, though I do like some of the other tracks now - notably Middletown Dreams.
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It's hard to take seriously any lyric that argues that the peak is never passed by a band whose peak had long passed, and is at full avalanche speed down the side of Everest.

 

So you don't like anything from Power Windows onward?

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It's hard to take seriously any lyric that argues that the peak is never passed by a band whose peak had long passed, and is at full avalanche speed down the side of Everest.

 

So you don't like anything from Power Windows onward?

A few bright spots, Dreamlike and Driven, some on HYF is not too bad, though not up to the level of the classics, then a slight bounce with VT, before the rebound of CA. But to describe S&A as a dead cat bounce dishonors the memories of the cats that we've lost.

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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.

The single guitar coil pick ups really was the last straw for me... :)

The wimpy, glassy sound seemed so unlike Alex.. He really took a seat in the back of the station wagon as time went on...
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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.

The single guitar coil pick ups really was the last straw for me... :)

The wimpy, glassy sound seemed so unlike Alex.. He really took a seat in the back of the station wagon as time went on...

 

If you squint long enough, you can see Alex....

 

http://www.realclearlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vacation-Car_1200-1-800x521.jpg

Edited by Planet X-1
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So I played this again today, and found I disliked it even more than I did yesterday.

 

The songs I enjoys shine individually. Taken as a whole, this is a synthetic bore. It just sounds so...bland...

 

Again not knocking the good tracks here. Just the album experience, which leaves me seriously wanting.

 

I feel as if my 6/10 was very generous.

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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.

The single guitar coil pick ups really was the last straw for me... :)

The wimpy, glassy sound seemed so unlike Alex.. He really took a seat in the back of the station wagon as time went on...

 

If you squint long enough, you can see Alex....

 

http://www.realclearlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vacation-Car_1200-1-800x521.jpg

He met the fate as the dog lol...
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I freaking love PoW. It’s so damn synth, so damn mid-80’s. There’s some really unusual shit here...Territories has quite an odd structure, Emotion Detector is Neil at his Simmons Pads best, Mystic Rythyms has some of Neil’s more inventive compositions...Geddy is playing his ass off and Alex is too (regardless of “tone”). It still has that crystalline, digital sheen to it all. Love it.

 

I also love By-Tor, Cygnus and all the rest.

Edited by theredtamasrule
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I can see why some fans were jumping ship after Signals and by the time of Power Windows they were truly gone.Why?Because everything had changed completely.Alex's tone (single coil pickup guitars and no Marshalls)and style had changed as had Geds,synths,electric drums,haircuts,trendy clothes and above all tightly arranged almost pop songs.By Tor and the Snowdog it wasn't.But i loved Power Windows and wore the vinyl out as i did with Grace because this was a band that wasn't standing still and making Son of Moving Pictures.I love every song on PW but Marathon is the pick.I can quite easily play Xanadu,La Villa,Natural Science,Red Barchetta,Countdown,Afterimage,Middletown Dreams all in row and not get fidgety and give up like my heavy/prog mates do.

The single guitar coil pick ups really was the last straw for me... :)

The wimpy, glassy sound seemed so unlike Alex.. He really took a seat in the back of the station wagon as time went on...

 

If you squint long enough, you can see Alex....

 

http://www.realclearlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vacation-Car_1200-1-800x521.jpg

He met the fate as the dog lol...

LMAO :laughing guy:
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One thought I've held about Power Windows is that, compositionally, I feel like it's a very mature Rush album.

 

What I mean by that is most Rush albums and songs have an almost frantic sound in places. Where, through writing and production, it sounds like your radio is literally coming apart, crackling and popping with raw tones and quick strikes that sound almost like the strings unraveling. I'm not sure how to really describe the mental image. But think about the intro to the studio version of Spirt of Radio. That guitar tone that opens not only is quick notes on the higher end of the fretboard, but there's an interesting combination of bright, tinny effect and reverb that makes it sound like your radio is about to explode. When the rhythm section joins in the intro, everything gets very stringy, like the music could peel apart like string cheese. The Geddy's vocals, usualy they're raw, with some sort of "choir of Geddys" effect on them that somehow feels even more raw. More of that bright, tinny production.

 

I dunno, I'm trying.

 

With Power Windows, Geddys voice feels very controlled. And with the deep end synths used to give it some bass rumble, everything feels much more grounded. The guitar, the driving force of that overly bright sound previously, is playing a more complementary role. Everything homogenizes, even if you've got notes all over the scale, it all feels like it's wrapped up in a warm glow.

 

A good example: On emotion detector, Geddy is reaching really high when he sings "feelings run high!" But it doesn't sound strained. He's not shrieking it, he very much sounds controlled, maybe even restrained there. And you can really here the pronunciation. "Fe-elings" rather than something like "fe-linx" like he maybe would have sung it on albums prior.

 

Neil is so wrapped up in his electronic percussion, and very much is trying to compliment the music rather than stand out above it... fills aren't rare, but they don't extend or have add a momentary singular bombast. He's still Neil back there, but he's not trying to be distracting, or flashy.

 

And so all of that makes it feel very mature. This isn't a band trying to prove itself anymore. No longer showing off like a kid shouting "look Mom, no hands!" Instead, it's a group confident in their abilities, and unconcerned with whether outsiders will give them credit for their abilities. No need to show off, they know what they have technically.

 

And in the Rush catalogue, this is all together very unique. I mean, they were obviously mature in later albums. But they were often trying to reach back and grab some energy from their younger selves.

 

But Power Windows was Rush putting the adult in adult contemporary.

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Also Big Money is a big stink. One of their worst singles.

A much better song when seen live, imo. 80s cheese otherwise.

Interesting, as I love Big Money... I'm interested to know how you feel about Time Stand Still?
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